Cops: Call led to search of PATH station

(The following article by Charles Hack was posted on the Jersey Journal website on October 24.)

HOBOKEN, N.J. -- What closed the PATH station for more than two hours on Friday evening? It depends on who you ask.

The Port Authority Police Department reported on Friday, and repeated yesterday, that the station was evacuated just after 7 p.m. after a bomb-sniffing dog thought it had smelled explosives from an employee's locker room.

The PAPD claims it was a routine inspection, but according to the Hoboken Police Department, it actually was the result of an anonymous call to 911.

According to city police, a young-sounding person called 911 from a pay phone in the vicinity of the train terminal at 5:31 p.m. and said a male wearing black pants and carrying a black case and a pipe bomb had entered the station, police said.

The Hoboken Police Department met with Port Authority and other units at the station, reports said.

Officers inspected the station and the Port Authority brought in sniffer dogs, Hoboken police said. This was the second such incident, police said. A similar call was placed two days earlier, city police said.

According to reports at the time, the station was reopened at 9:25 p.m. after no explosives were found.

During the suspension, Hoboken commuters were directed to take New Jersey Transit's light rail system to the PATH stations at Newport Pavonia and Exchange Place, reports said.